Refinishing

[Les Smith]

On Tue, 6 Jan 1998, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:

> -----------------------------------
> 
> Les,
> 
> In my defense, I did only say that refinishing "CAN" only make it look
> somewhat better, not that it WOULD. (Whew! Squeaked
> out of that one, didn't I?)
> 
> I once sent an interesting 8 foot (or so) straight-strung Chickering
> grand over to my old finisher in Portland with
> instructions to finish it in black. We had no idea what was under the
> "hand-brushed" silver finish. Well, we did know that
> there was at least one coat of red enamel -- also "hand-brushed." A
> week or so later I got a call from the finisher who told
> me that if my customer really wanted this piano to be black, he'd have
> to take it elsewhere. I took my customer to the
> finishers shop and we found ourselves looking at a truly spectacular
> rosewood cabinet with barely a flaw in the veneer
> anywhere. He had to go through four coats of paint (including the
> silver and red) to get to it. Turned out to be a truly
> wonderful piano. But then, I always did have a soft spot in my heart
> for straight-strung Chickerings.
> 
> Del

Hi, Del.

Not to be a nit-picker, but I assume that the last sentence of your post
refers to _grands_, right? :)  If my memory serves me correctly, when
you pulled the keyslip off that old grand and looked under the keys, you
saw a set of gleamimg, solid-brass key-pins staring back at you. That
always impressed me as a classy touch, since no one but the technician
would ever see them. 

Many years ago, when I was working for a large rebuilder, we took in an
ancient Steinway vertical, dating back to 1868. 1869, something like that.
The finish was ebony, and the word "ebonized" was embossed into the open-
face pinblock, so there was no question that it was the original finish.
However, when we stripped it--you guessed it--it was rosewood underneath.
Steinway, themselves, had ebonized a rosewood case! We never could figure
that one out. Needless to say, in this instance we ignored historical
accuracy in favor of common sense, and refinished the piano as rosewood.
That was a lot of years ago. I've often wondered what tuners most think
when they open up that gorgeous case and still find the word "ebonized"
on the pinblock. I guess the answers to some questions are lost forever.

All the best,

Les Smith